All drivers who reach 60 years will be required to renew their driving licences every year instead of every three years, with medical assessments becoming a mandatory part of the process.
According to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), the move is aimed at improving road safety and ensuring older motorists remain fit to drive.
“Within the new curriculum for drivers, once you hit 60 years, you will be required to renew your licence every year and not every three years,” NTSA Manager for Road Safety Programmes, Samuel Musumba, said in an interview with Radio Generation on Thursday.
He explained that as part of the annual renewal, drivers will need to submit a medical assessment report to NTSA. The requirement, he said, is meant to enhance road safety rather than infringe on personal health privacy.
“As you renew every year, we will be asking you for a medical report. It is not about knowing what you are going through, but it will be a report just like any other,” Musumba said.
“We will be looking at this from a safety point of view. We will advise you and say that now that you are 60 years old, avoid speed, and plan your journey early.”
The proposal is part of NTSA’s long-term road safety measures but has not yet been submitted to Parliament for approval. Legislation and public participation are required before the changes can apply to all drivers over 60.
Currently, all drivers, regardless of age, renew their licences every three years without mandatory medical assessments.
NTSA has emphasised that the changes form part of reforms under the new driver curriculum, which prioritises the safety of ageing drivers and their passengers.
The announcement comes after the government approved a public-private partnership (PPP) for the second-generation smart driving licence during a Cabinet meeting on Monday. The decision removes NTSA from managing the programme, following years of missed targets and operational failures.
Launched in 2017, the smart licence initiative aimed to issue 5 million cards. Eight years later, only 2.1 million have been distributed. NTSA printed 342,492 licences in the year ending June 2025, falling short of its 400,000 target by nearly 15 per cent.
An Auditor General report found 572,674 unprinted cards worth Sh176 million sitting unused in NTSA stores, with no clear deployment plan. More than 4 million blank cards were delivered under the original contract with National Bank of Kenya, now acquired by Access Bank.
NTSA officials have attributed the slow uptake to motorists preferring yearly electronic licences over three-year smart cards. However, the government’s decision to shift the programme to private investors indicates the problem runs deeper than customer preference.
The second-generation smart driving licence will feature an instant fines system, a mobile licence wallet and a merit and demerit points system. The chip-based cards will store personal information, traffic offense records, fines and digital signatures. The system aims to enable real-time licence verification, automated fine issuance, and continuous monitoring of driver behaviour.
Government officials hope private sector involvement will improve efficiency, speed up delivery and resolve operational bottlenecks that have long plagued the smart licence programme.
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